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Monitor Internet Servers with i5 Ping.

You can use the i5 to verify that other servers are up and running. If they are not, you can send a pager message to let you know they are down (assuming you have a pager and pager software).  If you a run web servers on your local network, let the reliable i5 let you know when the other servers, are not working. You should ping the following equipment every 15 minutes. If anyone of them do not respond, your internet is down.

• Router, normally this is attached to the internet line and is used to route the message to and from the internet.

• Firewall, normally the router is attached to the fire wall. These boxes are easily confused.

• i5 internet server if separate.

• Email server.

• Linux internet server.

• Storage Area Network SAN.

• Windows .NET internet server.

• Outside server, this will test your leased line.

Here is the sample Code:

pgm
	dcl &ip     *char 15
NextPing:
	chgvar &ip  '216.71.66.114'
	PING       RMTSYS(&IP ) MSGMODE(*QUIET *ESCAPE)
	MONMSG     MSGID(TCP3210) EXEC(DO)
	     SNDPGRMSG  TOPGR(EASTON   ) MSG('TEST IP Down')
       EndDo
	dlyjob 900     /* wait 15 minutes */
	goto NextPing
Enddo

Submit the Ping CL program from your start up CL.  Submit it to a multi treaded jobq, because it is a never ending job.

When the uninterruptible power supply tells the i5 the power has been lost, the i5 dumps memory to disk and shuts down. When the power is restored, the i5 restores memory and continues exactly where it left off. None of the others servers can recover that easily.  Most of the time you will have to come in and power them up in a certain sequence (router, firewall, SAN, .NET server etc.) or they will get confused. That is why the i5 is the best choice to be the monitor.

You can find outside services to do the same thing, some of them for free. Just search for ping service, internet monitor service, network monitor, and PC watch dog.

• Network monitors programs will run on a local computer and monitor servers on the network.
• Watchdog is a board that you put in your PC that will reboot the system if the program locks up.
• Some outside monitors can load a page, which verifies the your programs are functioning. Ping only verifies that TCP is running.

You can send pages to a "pager" or "cell phone".  You can do this with email or pager software.  Here are some of the third party software that can handle the job.

• Byteware mPlus, does both pager and emails.
• Help System Robot for pagers.
• ASC eSend for email only.
• IBM advanced job scheduler.

Pagers vs. Cell phone pros and cons.

• Price, pagers can be rented for $10 per month while cell phones rent for $55 per month. 
• You must have text messages turned on for a cell phone.  This cost .10 per message or $5 for 200 messages.
• Pagers can loose messages if they are out of range of the antennas.  Cell phones never loose messages, but are delayed while out of range.
• Most people already carry a cell phone so there is no reason to have a separate pager too. 

You may be able to get your employer to pay for your personal cell phone bill in exchange for being on call via text message from the i5 server.  New federal regulations about being "on call" (which includes wearing a pager or cell phone), may require the employer to pay you for every hour you are on call.  Hourly employee rules are stricter than salary employee rules.  Paying you for being "on call" is still cheaper then paying for hundreds of employees not working because the computer or software broke during the night undetected.